Aerodynamics and CFD analysis of equal size dual-rotor wind turbine
Abstract
In this study, the linear momentum theory is used to analyze the power-extraction capability of dual-rotor wind turbines with equal-size rotors. The rotors of a dual-rotor wind turbine are modeled as two separate actuator disks. The stream tube encompassing the front rotor is modeled as two (inner and outer) stream tubes, with the rear rotor being fully enclosed within the front rotor inner stream tube. No assumption is made on airflow pressure in between the rotors. The effect of the front and rear rotor interaction on the airflow within the inner stream tube is included in the analysis. With the results obtained, axial thrusts on front and rear rotors are determined and later used as input for computational fluid dynamics simulation to determine flow characteristics across the rotors. Based on the flow pattern between the rotors, the total power coefficient of a dual-rotor wind turbine is related to the rotor separation distance. A general solution for the dual-rotor wind turbine is developed, which shows that the largest total power coefficient that can be obtained is 0.814, occurring at a rotor separation distance of 2.8 times the rotor diameter. Finally, the results of this study are compared with those obtained bymore »
- Authors:
-
- Univ. of Houston, TX (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Univ. of Houston, TX (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1535340
- Grant/Contract Number:
- EE0000295
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 9; Journal Issue: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 1941-7012
- Publisher:
- American Institute of Physics (AIP)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 42 ENGINEERING; 17 WIND ENERGY
Citation Formats
Sundararaju, Haripriya, Lo, King H., Metcalfe, Ralph, and Wang, Su Su. Aerodynamics and CFD analysis of equal size dual-rotor wind turbine. United States: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.1063/1.4999500.
Sundararaju, Haripriya, Lo, King H., Metcalfe, Ralph, & Wang, Su Su. Aerodynamics and CFD analysis of equal size dual-rotor wind turbine. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4999500
Sundararaju, Haripriya, Lo, King H., Metcalfe, Ralph, and Wang, Su Su. Fri .
"Aerodynamics and CFD analysis of equal size dual-rotor wind turbine". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4999500. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1535340.
@article{osti_1535340,
title = {Aerodynamics and CFD analysis of equal size dual-rotor wind turbine},
author = {Sundararaju, Haripriya and Lo, King H. and Metcalfe, Ralph and Wang, Su Su},
abstractNote = {In this study, the linear momentum theory is used to analyze the power-extraction capability of dual-rotor wind turbines with equal-size rotors. The rotors of a dual-rotor wind turbine are modeled as two separate actuator disks. The stream tube encompassing the front rotor is modeled as two (inner and outer) stream tubes, with the rear rotor being fully enclosed within the front rotor inner stream tube. No assumption is made on airflow pressure in between the rotors. The effect of the front and rear rotor interaction on the airflow within the inner stream tube is included in the analysis. With the results obtained, axial thrusts on front and rear rotors are determined and later used as input for computational fluid dynamics simulation to determine flow characteristics across the rotors. Based on the flow pattern between the rotors, the total power coefficient of a dual-rotor wind turbine is related to the rotor separation distance. A general solution for the dual-rotor wind turbine is developed, which shows that the largest total power coefficient that can be obtained is 0.814, occurring at a rotor separation distance of 2.8 times the rotor diameter. Finally, the results of this study are compared with those obtained by similar studies reported in the literature. Discrepancies in the largest possible power coefficient of dual-rotor wind turbines reported in various investigations are examined and discussed.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4999500},
journal = {Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy},
number = 4,
volume = 9,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Aug 18 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Fri Aug 18 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
Web of Science
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